On the afternoon of 25 May 2013, French soldier Cédric Cordier was attacked and stabbed in the Paris suburb of La Défense by a man who was later ruled by a court not to be criminally responsible for psychiatric reasons.
In March 2012, French-Algerian Mohammed Merah went on a series of shooting sprees targeting soldiers and Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse and Montauban, southern France.
[3][4][5][6] In late afternoon, Saturday 25 May 2013, private first class Cédric Cordier was patrolling a busy underground hall in La Défense in uniform with two other servicemen.
[2][7][8][9] The attacker stabbed the soldier several times, narrowly missing Cordier's jugular vein and carotid artery.
[2][20] The attacker, a "tall, athletic, bearded man", was recorded on security cameras wearing a light-colored robe called djellaba.
[12][24] On Friday 31 May 2013, Dhaussy appeared before anti-terrorism judges Thierry Fragnoli and Gilbert Thiel, who determined there was enough evidence to proceed with an investigation.
[2] Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls warned of growing radicalization of young French Muslims online and by extremist imams.